“Are We There Yet?”—Getting from
Honors 2290-01 (#10354), Summer 2006
Professor Robert W. Hill
Office: English 117; Phone; 770-423-6346
Emails (always send to both): rhill@kennesaw.edu
AND rhill41@gmail.com
Class meets MW 5-7:45pm, May 31-July 30, in Library 426
Internet Movie Database: http://us.imdb.com
When Marty McFly climbs into Doc Brown’s hypercharged Delorean to go Back to the Future (several times), he does something that requires Superman to fly around the Earth at the speed of light. Marty needs his car, and so does his time-traveling, mostly American audience. From Noah’s ark, to Aladdin’s flying carpet, to Phileas Fogg’s hot-air balloon, to John Wayne’s stagecoach, to Arnie Cunningham’s Christine, to Mad Max’s black Interceptor, to Alvin Straight’s lawnmower, to Haney and Pickett’s train ride to the End of the Line, to Han Solo’s ramshackle smuggler’s ship--people in movies are going somewhere.
In the academy, we often study those journeys as mythic-heroic archetypes, but in this course we will examine specifically the cultural associations with particular vehicles, the implications of who runs them, who rides in them, who cares about them, and—finally—what impact they have, as vehicles, in the structured art-thing we call a movie.
We will view clips of fourteen movies, with each student choosing one additional movie to contribute as “class expert” to the discussion.
Class I (Wednesday, May 31) The Straight Story (1999)
Class II (Monday, June 5) Noah’s Ark (1928)
Class III (Wednesday, June 7) Stagecoach (1939)
Class IV (Monday, June 12) Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
Class V (Wednesday, June 14) Back to the Future (1985)
Class VI (Monday, June 19) I Mad Max (1979)
Class VII (Wednesday, June 21) Duel (1971)
Class VIII (Monday, June 26) Midterm Essay (1500 words, a least two
critical sources, MLA format, due at 5pm)
Class IX (Wednesday, June 28) The Legend of 1900 (1998); Last day to withdraw without academic penalty
Class X (Monday, July 3) The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
Class XI (Wednesday, July 5) End of the Line (1988)
Class XII (Monday, July 10) American Graffiti (1973)
Class XIII (Wednesday, July 12) Thelma and Louise (1991)
Class XIV (Monday, July 17) 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Class XV (Wednesday July 19) Dead Man (1995)
Class XVI (Monday, July 24) Final Essay (1500 words, at least two
critical sources, MLA format, due at 5pm)
KSU Final Exam period, July 26-30
REQUIRED TEXTBOOK:
Voytilla, Stuart. Myth and the Movies: Discovering the Myth Structure of 50 Unforgettable Films. ISBN 0941188663. Michael Wiese Productions.
GRADING PERCENTAGES:
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Nota bene: KSU Statement on Academic Honesty (8-17-99)
and
KSU Student Code of Conduct
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[Page created May 25, 2006; last revised May 25,
2006.—RWH]